Is This the End for Startup Apps?

How Apple’s New AI Tools are Changing the Game

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Startup Spotlight

Apple's new AI features might be pushing out startups by integrating similar functions directly into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Password managers, calculator apps, and AI writing tools could lose ground to Apple's built-in options. But it's not all doom and gloom—developers can still thrive by creating unique, niche apps that build on Apple's foundation. Adaptability is key, and there’s potential in developing specialized extensions and micro-apps to complement Apple's offerings.

OpenAI has brought on Sarah Friar, former Nextdoor CEO, as their first CFO, and Kevin Weil, a veteran of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as Chief Product Officer. These hires come after co-founder Ilya Sutskever's departure and Jakub Pachocki's promotion to Chief Scientist. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, believes Sarah and Kevin will help drive the next phase of growth. The company has also recently added new directors, including Sue Desmond-Hellmann and Nicole Seligman.

Elon Musk is working on transforming X into a super-app like China's WeChat, integrating social networking, messaging, news, shopping, and banking. Central to this vision is a payments feature, allowing users to store and transfer money. X has already obtained payments licenses in 28 states and plans to expand internationally. Musk aims to offer high yields on balances to encourage usage. The big challenge? Convincing everyone that X is now also a bank.

Partnering with big businesses can open up huge opportunities for startups, like access to larger markets and steady revenue. Key tips include identifying decision-makers, showcasing your unique value, and maintaining credibility. Cold outreach and persistence are crucial, as is demonstrating your agility and ability to deliver. Balancing proactive outreach with the challenges of long sales cycles and the need for a strong support network can make the difference in landing those big corporate clients.

The music industry is suing AI music generators Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, claiming they illegally trained their models on popular songs. Universal, Warner, and Sony are behind the lawsuits, seeking damages up to $150,000 per song. The labels allege that the AI can generate music strikingly similar to tracks by artists like ABBA, Jason Derulo, and Mariah Carey. Suno and Udio haven’t commented yet, but their CEOs argue their tech creates original music, not copies. This legal battle highlights the tension between AI innovation and copyright laws.

Startup Acquisitions

Mozilla Acquires Anonym (LINK)

Data analytics startup Ayudante acquires SG firm (LINK)

Shopify acquires Threads (no, not that one) (LINK)

Hugging Face to Acquire Argilla for $10M (LINK)

Filing shows Salesforce paid $419M to buy Spiff in February. (LINK)

🚀 David Park grew his business from $0 to $3M in annual recurring revenue in 18 months.

⬆️ Discover what this SaaS learned on their journey to $10,000 MRR

💰 Wizsuby made $250 in 2 days on Twitter without any budget by leveraging effective monetization strategies.

🛣️ Guerilla Marketing: How To Scrape Apollo leads for COMPLETELY free in 2024

⚙️ How a startup grew from $600K to $1.4M annually with fewer features than competitors

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